It's odds on that this one's a demo, straight off the showroom floor. When the fours first arrived, I snuck a ride, and being only a lad, I hammered the thing across a steeply cambered four way junction to see how far it would take off. When I finally landed, I was almost sideways, my heart was hanging out my mouth, and I had already rehearsed most of my spiel to the boss. I once stuffed a newly registered CB350 right under a parked truck too ;some bloke had carelessly parked his vehicle on the racing line through a big sweeper on our circuit between Mascot and the Motor Transport Department. I seem to remember the new owner waiting back at the showroom wasn't best pleased.

I see, Russell : clearly, you're no John Warrian ! Anyway, they had their 6 Hour debut in 1970 in the hands of Craig Brown/Brian Martin, so it may have been a demo bike but may not have been brand-new. Regarding thoughtless motorists parking on the racing line of your favourite road test circuit, I worked as a youngster after school at Gate Pa Cycles in Tauranga : it was actually quite handy in later life, when sad sacks bemoaned that they couldn't ride with right-side gearshifts or race-pattern shifts on customer bikes... I grew up jumping from a Suzuki onto a Norton, onto a Kawasaki, onto a Triumph, onto a Honda, onto an AJS, so it never bothered me then, and all these years later, jumping from my race-pattern Honda roadracer onto my vmx Husqvarna, it never bothers me now...anyway, I'd finally persuaded a very recalcitrant friend of mine to entrust his lovely 650SS Norton to the shop for a long-overdue tuneup. Needless to say, after we'd synched the carbs, tuned it up, and had it running beautifully, it was up to the "hairy-arsed schoolboy" to give the Norton the resulting road test...laying it over into a normally-tranquil righthander, a car quickly reversed out of a driveway into my path, and I had to run off the road and lay my buddy's lovely 650SS down on the grassy roadside verge...
He kind of forgave me, but with a "zig-zag" smile, and he never was really all that keen to ever revisit that bike shop again...

It's odds on that this one's a demo, straight off the showroom floor. When the fours first arrived, I snuck a ride, and being only a lad, I hammered the thing across a steeply cambered four way junction to see how far it would take off. When I finally landed, I was almost sideways, my heart was hanging out my mouth, and I had already rehearsed most of my spiel to the boss. I once stuffed a newly registered CB350 right under a parked truck too ;some bloke had carelessly parked his vehicle on the racing line through a big sweeper on our circuit between Mascot and the Motor Transport Department. I seem to remember the new owner waiting back at the showroom wasn't best pleased.

Whoever it is...they don't look "comfortable"....so probably not Craig Brown or Brian Martin! and I would never forgive you if you laid down my 650SS (noting: that I only ever got a go on a single carb Mercury anyway ;-) Sweet handling bikes with the usual British high first gear...

Whoever it is...they don't look "comfortable"....so probably not Craig Brown or Brian Martin! and I would never forgive you if you laid down my 650SS (noting: that I only ever got a go on a single carb Mercury anyway ;-) Sweet handling bikes with the usual British high first gear...

It's one time Bennett and Woods employee, John Warrian. He was quick. The Honda is almost certainly bog standard; those high handlebars - were they higher than the European versions? - don't really allow for a racey attitude.

I see, Russell : clearly, you're no John Warrian ! Anyway, they had their 6 Hour debut in 1970 in the hands of Craig Brown/Brian Martin, so it may have been a demo bike but may not have been brand-new. Regarding thoughtless motorists parking on the racing line of your favourite road test circuit, I worked as a youngster after school at Gate Pa Cycles in Tauranga : it was actually quite handy in later life, when sad sacks bemoaned that they couldn't ride with right-side gearshifts or race-pattern shifts on customer bikes... I grew up jumping from a Suzuki onto a Norton, onto a Kawasaki, onto a Triumph, onto a Honda, onto an AJS, so it never bothered me then, and all these years later, jumping from my race-pattern Honda roadracer onto my vmx Husqvarna, it never bothers me now...anyway, I'd finally persuaded a very recalcitrant friend of mine to entrust his lovely 650SS Norton to the shop for a long-overdue tuneup. Needless to say, after we'd synched the carbs, tuned it up, and had it running beautifully, it was up to the "hairy-arsed schoolboy" to give the Norton the resulting road test...laying it over into a normally-tranquil righthander, a car quickly reversed out of a driveway into my path, and I had to run off the road and lay my buddy's lovely 650SS down on the grassy roadside verge...He kind of forgave me, but with a "zig-zag" smile, and he never was really all that keen to ever revisit that bike shop again...

I witnessed the first one Glenn. I was reminded a while back that Craig Brown rode the whole thing on his own. How did he swing that, I wonder? There was a period in the race where all hell broke loose. I can remember a whole series of blokes spearing into the high bank/rock face type affair that ran parallel with the circuit as it climbed up the hill. Enzeder Ross King was one of them and all sorts of people from the pit area were running around up there in a state of some distress. An ambulance then made its way up the hill to pick up the injured. Then, just as Garry Thomas, who I think was leading the race, was powering up the hill, the moron driving the ambulance decided to complete a three point turn right across his path. The impact was truly sickening and Thomas flew high into the air and dissappeared down into the bush of the gully below. Amazingly he was still in one piece when they found him.

It's one time Bennett and Woods employee, John Warrian. He was quick. The Honda is almost certainly bog standard; those high handlebars - were they higher than the European versions? - don't really allow for a racey attitude.

OK...maybe he is shifting his weight then The bars were tourers...not flat by any means...and they were made of this very flexible Licorice-Metal

OK...maybe he is shifting his weight then The bars were tourers...not flat by any means...and they were made of this very flexible Licorice-Metal

The K1s mostly came in Gold only...

Yes, I remember them as high bars, but were these US style high, or was there no difference around the world. I hate to contradict you again - alright then I don't- but they also came in a sort of turquoise blue and candy red.

Most of the ones imported in France were red, and the first one I ever saw as a 13 years old kid in a shop window was inded that , but there was just a single K1 in my village and it was one of the turquoise blue kind and I thought it was absolutely gorgeous !

Most of the ones imported in France were red, and the first one I ever saw as a 13 years old kid in a shop window was inded that , but there was just a single K1 in my village and it was one of the turquoise blue kind and I thought it was absolutely gorgeous !

They did look good. I remember them as hugely heavy though. I was full of admiration for the racing blokes who chucked them around. Another one time work mate, Bruce Ireland, who was a skinny little 9 stone wringing wet sort of a bloke, was one such rider - his four was super quick on the straight bits too.

Another Honda/Six Hour race story has just popped into my head. A couple of guys who I worked with at the distributors, Laurrie Turbull and Ray Vinton, entered a CB 450 in the 1970 race. I remember them pulling newly assembled 450's out of the line trying to find the one with the least out of line wheels !

I liked the 450 lots though, especially the low geared, high exhaust version - lots of low down grunt.

From the first batch 112 is Murray Sayle on a TD1C, 32 looks like Bill Dillow, 95 also on a TD1C looks like Keith Brown from Melbourne, 57 looks like Geoff Sims who had the ex Toombs TD1C with the disc front brakes. Great Images.
20 appears to be Keith Turner on TR250 Suzuki as he rode in the 250GP race and Len Atlee was on the 4 cylinder Clem Daniels special in that race.

Yes, I remember them as high bars, but were these US style high, or was there no difference around the world. I hate to contradict you again - alright then I don't- but they also came in a sort of turquoise blue and candy red.

Whats to contradict? No they weren't US Ape Hangers...they were touring handlebars....

and my recollection is that the majority of K1s sold out of Bennet Honda were gold....NOT saying they didn't come in other colours!

Mine was a K2...baby poo brown...not the colour I wanted but all that was available at the time....the K2 had the same bars as the K1 (in Sydney Australia, anyway)

Here is me looking comfortable on the K2 (who wouldn't, just about to run over a cat! :-)

Never raced one but I've been close to them on several occassions when they've suffered primary chain failure, often resulting in "collateral damage." For that reason it worries me being close to one on the racetrack more than the piston seizing, at least there's a chance of the rider catching it if that happens.

Never raced one but I've been close to them on several occassions when they've suffered primary chain failure, often resulting in "collateral damage." For that reason it worries me being close to one on the racetrack more than the piston seizing, at least there's a chance of the rider catching it if that happens.

Keeping in mind that bikes are not my thing & that I only went to the Bathurst races in 1970 & 1971 & one other bike meeting at Amaroo at around that time (which I never photographed), I wouldn't minda more detailed explanation of the bike tending to lose chains.

Keeping in mind that bikes are not my thing & that I only went to the Bathurst races in 1970 & 1971 & one other bike meeting at Amaroo at around that time (which I never photographed), I wouldn't minda more detailed explanation of the bike tending to lose chains.

I don't even know what make of bike it is, so treat me gentle...!!

The bike is a TSS Bultaco, they made 125 and 250 versions of them. The primary drive (that is the drive from the crankshaft to the gearbox - I hope I'm not being too simplistic) was by chain. This chain has been known to break and because the drive was fully enclosed the chain would often jam between the sprockets and the case with the result being akin to a complete gearbox seizure, locking the rear wheel solid. Unlike a piston seizure where one has the opportunity (if fast enough) to pull the clutch in and stop the resulting engine lock up being transmitted to the rear wheel a gear box seizure normally results in a crash. I've seen this more than once and the last time it happened was during a race I was involved in, the Bultaco turned sideways exiting a corner took the bloke next to him down and another one ran into the resulting mass of motorcycles, I just about managed to avoid the mess but in doing so I put another bloke on the grass, luckily he didn't fall off. Hence my worry when ever I got too close to one.

The bike is a TSS Bultaco, they made 125 and 250 versions of them. The primary drive (that is the drive from the crankshaft to the gearbox - I hope I'm not being too simplistic) was by chain. This chain has been known to break and because the drive was fully enclosed the chain would often jam between the sprockets and the case with the result being akin to a complete gearbox seizure, locking the rear wheel solid. Unlike a piston seizure where one has the opportunity (if fast enough) to pull the clutch in and stop the resulting engine lock up being transmitted to the rear wheel a gear box seizure normally results in a crash. I've seen this more than once and the last time it happened was during a race I was involved in, the Bultaco turned sideways exiting a corner took the bloke next to him down and another one ran into the resulting mass of motorcycles, I just about managed to avoid the mess but in doing so I put another bloke on the grass, luckily he didn't fall off. Hence my worry when ever I got too close to one.

Thanks,

I remember the Bultaco as a high pitched rattly sounding little bike....is that right?

I had a mate who was there & knew a bit about the bikes, so he picked out the ones he knew as they went by.

With my camera up & going for a significant proportion of the races, & being in unfamiliar territory, most of it never stuck.

The Honda CB72/77, which was popular as a base for a racer in the junior championships over here, had a enclosed primary chain as well, but I've never heard of this problem with that bike. So it was also a matter of chain quality? Wonder whether the CR production racers had also primary chain drive?

The Honda CB72/77, which was popular as a base for a racer in the junior championships over here, had a enclosed primary chain as well, but I've never heard of this problem with that bike. So it was also a matter of chain quality? Wonder whether the CR production racers had also primary chain drive?

Excellent questions for a nostaligia forum, Renn - Fraid I don't know the answer to either though, and I did look.

Spanish Horex chain was not the best - but the directive from Franco that Spanish bikes had to be made from 100% locally produced materials meant that some of the gear was not as good as, say, a Reynolds chain.

Excellent questions for a nostaligia forum, Renn - Fraid I don't know the answer to either though, and I did look.

Received this mail today:

Hello

The CR72 and 77 bikes had gear primary drive. There was a prototype CR72 with chain drive, but it never went into series production. I described that in my book "Honda's Four-Stroke Race History 1954-1981". See http://rosedogbooks-...fostrahi19.html

The CR72 and 77 bikes had gear primary drive. There was a prototype CR72 with chain drive, but it never went into series production. I described that in my book "Honda's Four-Stroke Race History 1954-1981". See http://rosedogbooks-...fostrahi19.html